Boston flop a sobering reminder to Toronto

TORONTO (Reuters) - Basking in the glow of a hugely successful Pan American Games

Toronto mayor John Tory was looking at an Olympic bid in a more sobering light on Monday as Boston pulled out of the 2024 Summer Games race.

Emboldened by a Pan Am experience that won rave reviews, Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) president Marcel Aubut used a closing news conference to officially kick off a campaign to convince Canada's largest city to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

That enthusiasm was tempered on Monday with news that Boston was ending its candidacy for the 2024 Olympics, putting a spotlight on the many challenges and pitfalls that await any city looking to land the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

The U.S. Olympic Committee rescinded Boston's bid after the city's mayor said taxpayers could not afford to host the large-scale event.

The move was met with relief by Massachusetts officials, who had faced an active opposition campaign that fought the idea of hosting the Games, forecast to cost more than $8.6 billion.

Tory has seemed intrigued about the prospect of a 2024 bid but has not yet committed to throwing the city's hat into a crowded ring that already includes Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg, Germany.

"They say you shouldn't go shopping when you are hungry," a cautious Tory told Reuters in a phone interview. "I think these kind of big decisions have to be made, not on emotion but based on sensible, rational, fact-based discussion and consultation.
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